In need of an extensive paint job and a garden makeover, this run-down three-bedroom Grey Lynn villa has sold for $1.215 million.

Advertised as "a total do-up", the 1920s weatherboard at 28 Prime Rd sold at auction for $465,000, or 62 per cent, above its capital value of $750,000.

The 126sq m home with one bathroom did not appear to have been tidied before the listing photos were taken, with rubbish and boxes in front of the door on the front porch and a hose, pipes, scattered pot plants and other scraps in the driveway.

Plants prevent entry to the tiny garage, which looks as though it doesn't open because of a large dent.

A small brick fence separating the property from the road provides no privacy. Pictures inside show a dated kitchen with a metal bench top.

Facebook users reacted to the sale price, based on a photo of the exterior, with Gary Carmichael commenting "What a piece of crap", while Ollie Gee simply wrote "madness".

But the house sits on a 430sq m north-facing site, is a stone's throw from Grey Lynn Park, is within the zone for Auckland Girls' Grammar and is just minutes from the CBD.

The listing encouraged potential buyers to "bring your builder and architect along to discover how well this diamond will polish up".

Barfoot & Thompson real estate agent Chris Batchelor said the owner had lived in the property for a number of years.

The buyers planned on renovating the house and turning it into a "great family home". "It was a big do-up but I think it was a fair price. The aspects, combined with the location and the pure potential of it was the draw factor there."

The sale follows the $1.2 million sale of a tiny three-bedroom villa on the nearby Rose Rd which had a large hole in the toilet floor and watermarked ceilings.

Real Estate Institute chief executive Helen O'Sullivan said the median house price in Grey Lynn for the three months to September 30 when there were 47 sales was $1.1 million without apartments. With apartments, and 58 sales, it was $932,500.

The lowest-priced sale was $451,000, while the highest was more than $2.3 million.

"We talk about releasing more land, but it doesn't matter how much land you release on the outskirts of Auckland, it doesn't make these inner-city suburbs any bigger," Ms O'Sullivan said.